Hello guys, I have a question about my 6 yrs old yellow ratsnake.
She always was a good eater, done everything at time (shedding every 1.5 month, pooping and eating small rat every monday). Now she is acting weird. We were in Germany for 12 days, so brought her to the local reptile shop for "accommodation" while we were outside the UK. Boys who work there told us that she was absolutely fine - in her own viv with good temperature, was eating well, also she had her favourite hide from home. After we brought her back home (2.5 weeks now) she shed(a little bit later than it was expected), now is refusing to eat (she has interest at the beginning, but then just turn her head in opposite direction and goes away) but defecate two times already, very active - moving from one side of viv to the other and again and again, seems a little bit aggressive and sometimes she is trying to escape (never done it before), also she ignores her favourite hide since we brought her back. Don’t know what to think...
She has a fresh water all the time, hides, corn cob granules as a substrate, 12hrs of light, 12 hrs of night, temp - 95-100 F in the hot corner (cause she was sneezing few months ago and Vet advised to put higher temp apart from medicines) and she was absolutely fine with this temp all the time before January, so I don’t think that the problem is in temperature. And yes, humidity is 35-40% and I use spray to make rain regularly.
So I would like to listen to your thoughts about her behaviour.

Perhaps she’s looking for a mate? Snakes tend to become overactive and often are reluctant to eat during breeding season, but it’s odd that this behavior has never been obsered before in the six years you’ve had her. Perhaps the reptile store kept her in conditions that triggered breeding behavior- perhaps the phosphoperiod was longer in the store then at home? Scent of a nearby snake in the store could have also affected her behavior. Hope this helps!

I have her for 3 years now, first 3 years she was with another owner. He didn’t tell me anything about her behaviour. He didn’t pay enough attention to her. I’m not even sure if she was bred or not. I guess I’ll just have to wait and keep an eye on her, cause there is no chance to breed her at the moment. She’s also sneezing again.

That’s good to know. But still, since this behavior has not occurred on previous years (at least not that you know of), all I can guess is that change of setting triggered the behavior. If it is in fact breeding behavior, she should calm down in a few days to weeks regardless of if you decide to breed her or not. I’m not sure what to do about the sneezing... The vet should hopefully know what to do.